A MOTION calling for Swindon to lead the way amid the on-going European refugee crisis will be put before councillors next week.

Councillor Jim Robbins, ward member for Mannington and Western ward, will call on council chief executive Gavin Jones to urgently investigate how possible it is to accommodate Syrian refugee families in the borough at the next full council meeting on Thursday.

He is backed by councillor Emma Bushell, ward member for Walcot and Park North, and is further calling for the council to increase its funding for local refugee support services as well as support a bid for Swindon to obtain Town of Sanctuary status.

The pair also want leader of the council David Renard to lobby the government to work more constructively with European partners to deal with the refugees currently in Europe and address the underlying international development problems at the source of the crisis.

Jim said shocking images of three-year-old boy Aylan Al-Kurdi prompted many people into action, and now he felt it was time the council led the way.

He said: “As a parent those pictures really hit home, seeing Aylan there on the beach. I certainly agreed with the outcry that the government wasn’t doing enough and we want to do see some positive action.”

He added there has been some excellent work carried out by local refugee support services, particularly by the Harbour Project and the Swindon-Calais Solidarity group.

“But I think it is important that we as councillors should take a lead on this,” he said. “It seems we are waiting for the government to come up with a response rather than leading the way.”

Backing his call for action Emma said: “It is easy to feel overwhelmed by pictures of hundreds of people fleeing their homes. But this is something that Swindon could and should be proud to support – to help people who are facing the huge dilemma of whether waiting to see if they suffer barrel bombs raining down on their homes or to pay a smuggler to risk their lives and get them out of the country. Certainly in the last couple of weeks when people have seen the level of suffering they have been keen to support.”

Jim stressed that with the expected population increase in Swindon over the coming years now was the ideal time to ensure necessary infrastructure was in place to ensure facilities such as GP surgeries and schools were not overstretched.

He said: “People will want to know that the council are carrying out investigations so we know how many people we can realistically support and that it is done in a sensible way so local people can feel they’re not going to be hugely inconvenience by this.

“The town is looking to grow by about 20,000 people, this is a good opportunity for us to look at our infrastructure to see what the town can support.”